In the lead-up to the United Nations General Assembly, last week Australia and Ghana proposed a motion titled “Responsibility to protect and the prevention of genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity” to be included in the official agenda for this week. Namibia and Zimbabwe along with 19 other countries voted to exclude it from the agenda while 112 countries voted for it and 17 abstained. The Namibian government explained its vote as a procedural one and noted that it was “not necessarily against the substance of the motion.” Despite objections, the motion passed and was included in the agenda for the 72nd U.N. General Assembly.

In addition to dealing with lower global cocoa prices, regional price differences have also hurt cocoa farmers. There is a $27 price difference in a bag of cocoa beans between Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire. Together, the two countries produce 60 percent of the world’s cocoa crop. Traders have been driving through the porous Côte d’Ivoire-Ghana border in order to acquire the desired commodity at a cheaper price, causing the Ghanaian market to be flooded by cheap cocoa beans, leading to a decline in income for Ghanaian cocoa farmers. While cross-border illicit trade is hard to quantify, estimates show that 70,000 tons of cocoa beans were illegally smuggled in Ghana this season, making up 7 percent of Ghana’s annual cocoa production. The price difference between the two countries can be attributed to a fixed price policy by Côte d’Ivoire, which sets prices before the harvest. This policy has encouraged Ivorian growers to plant new cocoa plants and has led to an increase in the amount of production and a reduction in the average cost of production.

In related monetary news, the peg of the CFA franc, the currency of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, to the euro has raised concerns among activists in certain West Africa countries. This week, protesters gathered in several West African capital to protest the Euro ties. Interviewed Senegalese traders complained about the CFA frank’s tie to its former colonizer and the lack of independence it entails. Prior to being pegged to the Euro the CFA franc was pegged to the French franc. This week’s events are not the first wave of protests against the CFA franc. Last month, Beninese youths burned the CFA franc in support of Kemi Seba, a Franco-Beninese activist who was arrested in Dakar for burning the currency.

The judges’ decision stated that the IEBC must follow the electoral laws in future elections. They also reaffirmed that the re-run must be held within 60 days of the decision to nullify the original vote on September 1. IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati identified October 17 as the date for the re-run. However, the opposition National Super Alliance (NASA) coalition has stated it will boycott the poll if current IEBC officials are not sacked, and a new team is not hired to run the next poll. Furthermore, the French company OT-Morpho that provided the voting kits for the original election has stated that it must reconfigure more than 40,000 kits before the re-run, which will take at least until the end of October—surpassing the current date for the re-run and potentially even the 60-day constitutional deadline.